Ten people in Colombia, including three journalists, have been threatened in a pamphlet allegedly signed by the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FLIP in Spanish), which condemned the death threats.
Seven journalists were killed in Colombia in 2010, and total attacks on the media were almost double the number that occurred over the previous four years combined, says the annual report of the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper).
Colombian journalist Claudia López refused to retract her statements and declared her innocence at her trial for allegedly defaming ex-President Ernesto Samper, El País and Caracol Radio report.
Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell, who faced off against former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, was named the vice president of news for the U.S. Spanish-language television station Univisión, reported EFE and Vanguardia on Jan. 21.
Eighty-nine journalists from 11 countries in Latin America participated in the most recent environmental journalism training course organized by Colombia's Newsroom Council (CdR), an investigative journalism organization. The course was conducted on the distance education platform of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) applauded the Jan. 18 legal reform that increased the statute of limitations for crimes against journalists in Colombia -- a change that is considered a step forward in the fight against impunity, reported Vanguardia and Terra.
Venezuela’s telecommunications agency, Conatel, ordered Televén to immediately stop broadcasting the Colombian telenovela soap opera “Chepe Fortuna” for promoting “political and racial intolerance, as well as xenophobia and crime advocacy,” Reuters and BBC Mundo report.
President Porfirio Lobo’s government has asked for the help of the United States, Colombia, and Spain to help investigate the killings of ten Honduran journalists who died in 2010, El Heraldo reports.
Edwin Echeverry, part of the communications team for the mayor's office of Medellín is being "tormented" for criticizing on his personal Facebook page the costs of a fireworks spectacular planned to celebrate the bicentennial, according to the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper).
Colombia's Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) has released its report “Espionage against journalists" about the campaign by Colombia's intelligence service to smear and spy on several reporters. The report compiles the major breakthroughs on investigations about the case.
Angélica Ramírez, a well-known host on a TV station in Huila department, was arrested Nov. 15, El Espectador reports. The police accused her of connections with the FARC guerilla organization and charged her with extortion, terrorism, and the illegal trafficking of weapons, El Tiempo explains.
The editor responsible for judicial coverage at El Tiempo newspaper, Jineth Bedoya Lima, received threats from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after releasing her book about el “Mono Jojoy,” the guerrilla leader killed in September, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) reports.